gcov: docs: add a note on GCC vs Clang differences

Document some things of note to gcov users:
1. GCC gcov and Clang llvm-cov tools are not compatible.
2. The use of GCC vs Clang is transparent at build-time.

Also adjust the documentation to account for the removal of config symbol
CONFIG_GCOV_FORMAT_AUTODETECT by commit 6a61b70b43c9 ("gcov: remove
CONFIG_GCOV_FORMAT_AUTODETECT").

Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/20190318025411.98014-4-trong@android.com
Signed-off-by: Tri Vo <trong@android.com>
Reviewed-by: Peter Oberparleiter <oberpar@linux.ibm.com>
Cc: Daniel Mentz <danielmentz@google.com>
Cc: Greg Hackmann <ghackmann@android.com>
Cc: Nick Desaulniers <ndesaulniers@google.com>
Cc: Petri Gynther <pgynther@google.com>
Cc: Prasad Sodagudi <psodagud@quicinc.com>
Cc: Trilok Soni <tsoni@quicinc.com>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>

diff --git a/Documentation/dev-tools/gcov.rst b/Documentation/dev-tools/gcov.rst
index 69a7d90c320ad983f1120b9f6eab4eb12b6712d4..46aae52a41d014fd057d3cd90c60586351d858e1 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/dev-tools/gcov.rst
+++ b/Documentation/dev-tools/gcov.rst
@@ -34,10 +34,6 @@ Configure the kernel with::
         CONFIG_DEBUG_FS=y
         CONFIG_GCOV_KERNEL=y
 
-select the gcc's gcov format, default is autodetect based on gcc version::
-
-        CONFIG_GCOV_FORMAT_AUTODETECT=y
-
 and to get coverage data for the entire kernel::
 
         CONFIG_GCOV_PROFILE_ALL=y
@@ -169,6 +165,20 @@ b) gcov is run on the BUILD machine
       [user@build] gcov -o /tmp/coverage/tmp/out/init main.c
 
 
+Note on compilers
+-----------------
+
+GCC and LLVM gcov tools are not necessarily compatible. Use gcov_ to work with
+GCC-generated .gcno and .gcda files, and use llvm-cov_ for Clang.
+
+.. _gcov: http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Gcov.html
+.. _llvm-cov: https://llvm.org/docs/CommandGuide/llvm-cov.html
+
+Build differences between GCC and Clang gcov are handled by Kconfig. It
+automatically selects the appropriate gcov format depending on the detected
+toolchain.
+
+
 Troubleshooting
 ---------------